The day before I left for my kibbud av v'em* trip to the states, I joined my (formerly**) fellow staff of the Bnai Binyamin Beit El Yeshiva High School for a tour of Jerusalem.

It's hard to know what came first... Did Arabs start visiting because it seemed empty of Jews, or did Jews stop visiting because Arabs began to show up?

We met at the "Tayelet" in Armon Hanatziv, where there's a fantastic view of Mt. Olives, Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) and other areas of Jerusalem Jews tend to avoid.

Many Jews stay away from the Tayelet, too. Arab families picnic and party there.  It's hard to know what came first, like the chicken or the egg.  Did Arabs start visiting because it seemed empty of Jews, or did Jews stop visiting because Arabs began to show up?

Being Yishuv Jews from Mateh Binyamin and Beit El, we didn't let that get in our way.  And we were pleasantly surprised to come across a Jewish wedding.

MAZAL TOV!!

*the Torah Commandment to Honor One's Father and Mother

**I will no longer be teaching there, so it was also a farewell for me.

A month and a half ago I wrote Still Hoping, which included a promise or two. One promise I kept here and here, but I didn't explain what happened to The Hope, HaTikvah, the "hopeful" Israeli political party which hoped to be headed by MK Dr. Arieh Eldad.
I've decided to create a "pretend" party, the one I'd want to vote for.

I really tried. Yes, I really tried to like and trust Hatikvah, but I could no longer lie to myself, nor to those of you who read my blogs for information you can't get any where else.

My report about their Yom HaAtzmaut-Independence Day Reception didn't tell it all. I left out the lack of professional organization, no registration of participants to get their names, numbers and what they volunteer to do. I didn't mention the horrendously boring program, the history lecture by the university professor, nor the fact that the organizers made no efforts to meet and greet the attendees unless I was intentionally snubbed.

To put it very simply, there are tested and proven techniques for establishing successful ideological and political movements. None of them were used, and without them, the movement hasn't a chance.

But I gave them another chance, so desperate for a political party with an ideology I could support. The same person who had invited me to the reception then invited me to a parlour meeting. The host was a name I had read many times in "letters to the editor." I was encouraged. So I went there to meet the founder/organizer of Hatikvah.

I didn't let the paltry number of participants bother me, nor the fact that I was younger than all by a couple of decades. I was impressed that those very elderly people managed to walk up all the flights of stairs. Then the speaker began... to lecture us. He started off bragging about how many generations his family has lived in Israel. I couldn't get the significance of it unless he's anti-immigrant. I tried to cut off some personal tangents by the other participants about their experiences in the pre-state undergrounds, very politely wondering what that had to do with the subject at hand.

I even stayed after the speaker said that Hatikvah was established because their study showed that the only group of Israelis who didn't have a party to support was the secular right. I disagreed and tried to explain that for people like me, religious-right who in principle don't vote for religious parties, there isn't a reliably right wing party. He looked at me blankly, unable to comprehend my point.

But half-way (or less) through the very detailed university lecture about the history of the State of Israel I begged the speaker to get to the main topic. He insisted that we wouldn't understand anything until we heard his entire speech.

That was too much and I left.

There is no political party, nor leader I trust to get us, the State of Israel, out of this dangerous mess we're in. So since I love politics and won't be teaching this year, I've decided to create a "pretend" party, the one I'd want to vote for.

I'm sure you remember the Little Red Hen who could never find partners to do the hard work, the planting, reaping, grinding and baking. But when it came to eating the bread... suddenly she had lots of willing barnyard animals.

Well for quite a few years, I've been kvetching and ranting about the dearth of reliably Right and patriotic political parties here in Israel. With a heavy heart I agree to vote for a party which inevitably disappoints me.

So, now, instead of kvetching and ranting and pretending that some politician or party will do what must be done for the future of our precious State of Israel...If I have to pretend, I may as well go whole hog and invent my dream party or political movement.

I'm debating between two names

מחר Tomorrow
or
זאת שלנו It's Ours!

Names and slogans are very important. Look at the US's Obama. His "Change" won him the nomination verses Hillary Clinton whose "My Turn" sounded childish.  (Ok, maybe it wasn't her slogan, but it was her theme.)

There's a great old snappy Israeli song, מחר "Machar," Tomorrow. I danced it down Fifth Avenue during the Salute to Israel Parade, when I was younger. It's important to plan for the future, so there will be a future and not to just think of today.

I imagine a montage of images from all over Eretz Yisrael--including Tel Aviv, The Land of Israel, and on top we'll see the slogan, Zot Shelanu! It's Ours!

Please send your vote via the coments to help choose the party's name.
More to follow...

Yes, finally.

And I'm enjoying the silence here after the noise in New York City.

At JFK, I grabbed two newspapers from the choice offered when boarding my El Al flight back home.  I read through them hungrily, like drinking water after a fast.  I just took a break to say T'filat HaDerech, The Travelers' Prayer, and photograph the sunset.

As I finished reading I looked at my hands and found them black with newspaper ink, as if tainted by the news.

And now, almost twelve hours after retuning home, I see nothing to cheer me on the news here.  The egotisitcal politicians aren't looking out for us, for our security and future.

It makes no more sense than Monty Python.

I guess I'm presently typical of your typical non-Israeli.
That's how I feel here in New York. I rarely get on a computer and don't hear the radio, nor see newspapers, at least not more than once or twice a week at best. I gave up trying to find news about Israel on TV.

Headlines are about Billy Joel's ex-wife the famous model and her very peculiar marriage with her soon to be additional "ex." There's also important news about Madonna and her "admirer."

So, I don't know at all what is going on. I guess I'm presently typical of your typical non-Israeli. News topic among people here concern the price of gas for the car and whether they're voting for Obama or McCain.

And yes, there are some great sales. Lord & Taylor have some things 50%off sales price. With the dollar down, bargains. But why is the dollar down? Nobody seems to know. Probably all the outsourcing.

Next week, G-d willing, I'll be back in the real world, but at present, I'm disengaged.